1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ultrasound transducer including a plurality of wirings electrically connecting a plurality of piezoelectric elements and a substrate, and an ultrasound endoscope.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an ultrasound endoscope that enables observation of an ultrasound image, which is a two-dimensional visible image of an area to be examined, an ultrasound transducer provided on the distal end side in an insertion direction of an insertion portion typically includes a plurality of divisional piezoelectric elements provided with respective GND electrodes and signal electrodes, and has a function that upon a voltage being externally applied to the respective GND and signal electrodes, radiates ultrasound to an area to be examined, along with vibration of the respective piezoelectric elements, and receives reflected sound from the area to be examined and converts the reflected sound into electric signals.
Also, transmission/reception of power and electric signals to/from the ultrasound transducer to/from the outside are performed by electrical connection of the an ultrasound signal transmission cable inserted inside the ultrasound endoscope to the signal electrodes of the respective piezoelectric elements.
Here, for the electrical connection of the ultrasound signal transmission cable to the respective piezoelectric elements, a configuration in which such electrical connection is made via a substrate is publicly known.
More specifically, a configuration in which respective signal wires of an ultrasound signal transmission cable are electrically connected to a plurality of pads provided on a substrate and signal electrodes of respective piezoelectric elements and the respective pads on the substrate are electrically connected via a plurality of wirings, and the ultrasound signal transmission cable is thereby electrically connected to the respective piezoelectric elements is known.
As described above, a configuration in which a substrate and a plurality of piezoelectric elements are electrically connected via a plurality of wirings is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 8-172695.
In recent years, for ultrasound image quality enhancement, a configuration of an ultrasound transducer in which resolution is enhanced by an increase in number divisional piezoelectric elements is publicly known.